Biography
Scott Merritt sings and plays multiple instruments, handling guitar, mandolin, and keyboards with equal facility. Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, he launched his career without leaving the region, refining his craft through intimate acoustic folk sets in local clubs and coffeehouses throughout the 1970s.
His first album, Desperate Cosmetics, appeared in 1979 and attracted little attention. Four years later he followed it with Serious Interference, yet reviewers remained equally unmoved by the sophomore effort.
Persistence eventually paid off when Duke Street Records signed him in 1986, re-releasing the second album and financing a third titled Gravity Is Mutual. Keyboardist Doug Wilde, percussionist Jimmy Bralower, guitarist Adrian Belew, and drummer Bob Disalle all contributed to the sessions. Two singles emerged from the record, each accompanied by a music video. One of them, “Overworked and Underprivileged,” became Merritt’s first hit single and marked his final project for the label.
In 1990 he issued Violet and Black on IRS Records. Afterward he stepped back from sustained recording activity, though listeners can still encounter such tracks as “No Shirt No Service,” “Goin’ to the Movies,” “Raise a Ship,” “Music in the Attic,” and “Power of Invention.”
His first album, Desperate Cosmetics, appeared in 1979 and attracted little attention. Four years later he followed it with Serious Interference, yet reviewers remained equally unmoved by the sophomore effort.
Persistence eventually paid off when Duke Street Records signed him in 1986, re-releasing the second album and financing a third titled Gravity Is Mutual. Keyboardist Doug Wilde, percussionist Jimmy Bralower, guitarist Adrian Belew, and drummer Bob Disalle all contributed to the sessions. Two singles emerged from the record, each accompanied by a music video. One of them, “Overworked and Underprivileged,” became Merritt’s first hit single and marked his final project for the label.
In 1990 he issued Violet and Black on IRS Records. Afterward he stepped back from sustained recording activity, though listeners can still encounter such tracks as “No Shirt No Service,” “Goin’ to the Movies,” “Raise a Ship,” “Music in the Attic,” and “Power of Invention.”
Albums
